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The Indy Power Rankings For August 11, 2014

Here we go with the Top 10 independent stars of the world this week on the Indy Power Rankings on The Barbwire Blog; where we rank the best professional wrestlers from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to Mexico, from Europe to Japan. we’ll count down the 10 most popular wrestlers in the world this week, hot off the votes from the online poll as well as the votes from independent wrestling writers for the week ending August 11, 2014. Now, on with the countdown!

Indy Power Rankings for the Week of August 11th, 2014

1. Kazuchika Okada (@rainmaker_chaos)-Mark this down as the first time he’s been ranked in the Indy Power Rankings and with his first ranking, comes a #1 ranking. Hard to argue with him at #1 after he won the very prestigious New Japan G1 Climax Tournament, finishing it off this week by defeating Hirooki Goto on 8/4, Lance Archer on 8/6, Minoru Suzuki on 8/8, and then Nakamura on 8/10 in the Finals. While many would debate whether New Japan is in fact an independent promotion, by our standards in 2014, he qualified and took home the top spot. Next year, ALL New Japan will be eligible. For now, it’s only the talent that has wrestled in the U.S., Canada, or Europe in 2014. Tied for #2 in the online poll.

2. Chase Owens (@nwachaseowens)-His streak of #1 rankings has been broken, but it was a struggle to bump him out of the #1 spot this week. After all of his wins in recent weeks, he picked up 2 more including another title in the Mid-Atlantic Junior Heavyweight Title after 2 wins over Sigmon this week. While his streak has been broken, this high ranking just adds more points to his 2014 IPR 100 ranking and can only start pushing him higher and higher up the Top 100 with just a few months to go.

3. Kongo Kong/Osyris (@RealKongoKong)-Much like Chase Owens, this “monsta” refuses to lose. He has been ranked every week for a couple of months now. The IWA World Champion doesn’t just win at IWA, he wins anywhere and everywhere he goes. Strong Style Wrestling was no different over the weekend as he defeated D1W Champion Madman Pondo to prove that he is the true king of the Midwest right now. After that, he defeated John Wayne Murdoch to retain his title on 8/10 in a fantastic contest. If you’re in this beast’s way, it’s time to get the hell out of the way. He’s not stopping any time soon. Tied for #2 in the online poll.

4. Hy Zaya-It’s been a couple of months since the Ninja cracked the Top 10, but he forced his way in after winning the First Annual JC Bailey Memorial Tournament at CCW on 8/9. On top of that, he finished off his weekend with a victory vs. Harry Palmer at IWA Mid-South on 8/10. While he stays mostly in the Midwest, he has had a stellar 2014, racking up wins and titles where ever he goes. Time will tell if he can keep this pace up as he has been competing almost every weekend for several months now.

5. Kay Lee Ray (@Kay_Lee_Ray)-Another first-timer to the IPR Top 10 jumps in with both feet after an outstanding weekend where she beat Martin Kirby for the SWE Speed King Title on 8/9. That same day she defeated Kris Travis by DQ and then finished off the weekend on 8/10, retaining the title vs. Robbie X, Jimmy Havoc, & Zak Northern. It was a strong 3-0 weekend for her and a great start for her to possibly start climbing up the rankings in the future. We hope to see more to come from this rising star! #8 in the online poll.

6. BJ Whitmer (@bj_whitmer)-The IWA East Coast Champion had a chance at a 3-0 weekend but was unable to make the AIW show on 8/8 and thus ended up going 2-0 instead. On 8/9 he teamed with Jimmy Jacobs to defeat Caprice Coleman and Takaaki Watanabe and then “Mr. IWA” went to IWA Mid-South on 8/10 where he won a #1 Contender’s Match, defeating Ace Perry, Gary Jay, Reed Bentley, and Shane Mercer. He has the IWA World Title in his sights, but standing in his way will be the monstrous Kongo Kong!

7. Michael Elgin (@ROHMichaelElgin)-One up and one down for the ROH World Champion as it was kind of a battle of champions as it was Elgin, the ROH and AIW Absolute Champ taking on PWX and WrestleForce Champ Cedric Alexander on 8/9. In the end, “Unbreakable” Michael Elgin came out on top and got ranked yet again. While he’s not working the breakneck schedule he was at the beginning of the year, he is defending the ROH World Title every chance he gets. He’s currently sitting at #2 in the IPR 100 after coming in at #1 last year. He has a few months left to sneak back into that #1 spot!

8. Zack Sabre Jr. (@zacksabrejr)-Here’s another name that hasn’t been seen in the IPR Top 10 for several months, but after some success at NOAH over the weekend he returned with a bang. First he defeated Hajime Ohara and Jinzo on 8/8 in a 3 Way at NOAH and then won a 13 Man Battle Royal the same day. It was that combined with him winning 5 of his last 6 matches that helped get him ranked this week. It will be interesting to see how he fares in PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles coming up.

9. Drew Galloway (@TheDrewMcIntyre)-What a return to the indies it was for the former Drew McIntyre as on his first night at EVOLVE he knocked off Chris Hero to win the title there. He then went on to defeat Anthony Nese to retain the title, before finally losing to Ricochet the last day, which isn’t exactly a bad loss considering Ricochet is sitting in the driver’s seat for #1 in the IPR 100 this year. This former WWE star is making big waves and after his huge weekend at EVOLVE it will be enjoyable to see what he can do from here. #9 in the online poll.

10. Beautiful Beaa (@BeaaMoscrip)-The first ever SCPW Canadian Hybrid Champion proved once again how important the fan poll was this week as she squeaked into the Top 10. She was tied with John Greed at the end of the day, but her higher vote total in the fan poll pushed her above Greed for the #10 spot this week. It was a solid 2-0 week for the new champ and if she can continue this momentum, it won’t be her last time cracking the Top 10. #5 in the online poll.

People’s Champ. Bill Black/Will White (@BBlackWrestling)-One of the most unique characters in all of Canada retained his Squared Circle Live Premier Title on 8/10 vs. Ashley Sixx and then took that success to the online vote where he came from behind to secure the People’s Champ award this week.

Honorable Mention. John Greed (@greedwrestling)-He had a big 3-0 week, but fell just short of making the Top 10 as he didn’t quite have enough fan votes to push him past Beautiful Beaa this week. Strong showing by the Canadian talent this week, overall.

And there you have it, the top 10 of the best independent wrestling stars of the world as voted by the fans as well as independent wrestling writers across the country. To check out their official web site where YOU can participate in the weekly online poll voting, visit indypowerrankingsipr.wordpress.com as well as their Facebook page at http://www.Facebook.com/IndyPowerRankings. They can be found on Twitter @IndyPowerRankin.

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